I've written rather extensively about my involvement with and support for Bread for the World. I've been less vocal about my involvement with and support for Sojourners. But both organizations help me reflect upon a Christian commitment to social justice. Both organizations help me act on that commitment. So you can imagine my interest when …
Category: Politics
Who will we be?
If yesterday was (rightly) a day for remembering, it seems to me that today is one for introspection. As a country, who do we want to be? How big is the gap between who we are and who we long to be? How do we close that gap? Thanks to Jake Bouma, yesterday I saw …
Making hungry people hungrier is unacceptable, Part 2: Showing my work
I recently shared this post that was originally published on Bread for the World's Bread Blog. I would understand if you thought my conclusions in that post seemed a bit like a math student who simply writes down an answer. Even though the answer is correct, you'd still like to know how she got there. …
Continue reading Making hungry people hungrier is unacceptable, Part 2: Showing my work
Deliberately making hungry people hungrier is unacceptable
Note: This post was originally published on the Bread Blog. Have you ever been hungry? I mean, Really. Hungry. As in no-food-in-the-house-and-no-resources-for-getting-more hungry? I haven’t. Oh sure, there’ve been some months when expenses were bigger than income and I didn’t know how to pay some bills. But I’ve always had support - financial and otherwise …
Continue reading Deliberately making hungry people hungrier is unacceptable
Called to care for those at the margins
I had my usual for breakfast: a bowl of Kashi Go Lean cereal with raisins. (I prefer it with blueberries or raspberries though.) No word on what President Obama - or anyone else present - had for breakfast at this morning's National Prayer Breakfast. (Not that I looked that hard, mind you. And by "not …
Why Bread?
My wife, Joann, and I are proud members of Bread for the World. Why? Because, for example: "Is not this the fast that I choose? To loose the bonds of injustice...to break every yoke? ...It is not to share your bread with the hungry?" (Isaiah 58:6-7) The biblical call for justice compels us to raise …
Well said!
Welcome to another edition of my version of that blog post staple, the weekly recap/links roundup/info dump. My intent is to highlight stuff I came across this week (or, you know, at least fairly recently) that I found well-written or inspiring or bizarre or...well, or perhaps stuff so good I wish I’d written it myself. …
Minding the gap
That was one of my key take-aways (gotta love conference attendee parlance, right?) from the Leadership Institute at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City last week: minding the gap. In one of his plenary addresses, Church of the Resurrection Senior Pastor, Adam Hamilton, used that phrase – minding the gap – to …
IL Forum to Combat Human Trafficking
I was quite encouraged by the crowd present for Monday's Illinois Forum to Combat Human Trafficking. There were several hundred people there of diverse ages and races. The speakers were passionate and informative. Opportunities to take action to combat trafficking were offered, actions that could be taken right then and there. International Justice Mission was …
Be an advocate. Please.
Summer is winding down, school begins soon for many and the weather is (finally!) outstanding, beautiful and inspiring. If you’re like me, that means your tolerance for reading some long missive from me is basically nil. Yet, the call to incarnate the love of God as experienced in the birth, life, death and resurrection of …
All That I Can't Leave Unsaid 